Healthy Snacking
Most parents have a hard time getting their kids to eat veggies. Especially fresh veggies. I don’t happen to have that problem. Not only will my son eat veggies, he’s happy having them as a mid-day or after-school snack. My secret? Fat Free Ranch Dressing. I learned at an early age that most children (no, not all.. I said most) love ranch dressing. I don’t know what it is about the stuff, but if you give my kid a little container of ranch dressing and anything he’ll more than likely eat it. It’s just an idea, and one worth trying.
There are tons of other ways to get your child to snack healthy without them actually thinking about their snacks as “healthy”. Here are a few things I give my son to snack on that I think are pretty good.
1. Sugar Free Jello topped with lite redi whip. There’s hardly any sugar at all in lite redi whip. They think they are getting a really yummy treat. Also, you can throw some fresh fruit in the Jello before it sets. (as an added bonus, your kids can actually help make the Jello)
2. Baby carrots or celery and Fat Free Ranch dressing.
3. Chilled Apple slices or Orange wedges. The best way to do this is cut the apples up, or the oranges up and put them in a baggie in the fridge for when they get the urge for a snack. They’ll already be there and you won’t have to wait.
4. Sugar Free Kool-Aid pops. If you want to make them.. or even sugar free popsicles.
5. Light popcorn.
6. Yogurt. Regular or frozen.
7. Pretzels or baked chips.
I know they aren’t all original ideas, but that’s how I keep my kiddo eating a little healthier. If you’ve got any good healthy snack ideas, comment or email me. I’d love to hear about them.
Filed under The Daily
Commenters: Amanda, Becca, Julie
As anyone who reads this thing regularly (all 2 of you) know, my son is 8 years old. Last year he got his first cell phone. Some people think 7 years old is too young for a cell phone, but I obviously disagree. I do, however, think that 7 is too young for a camera phone, or text messaging. Anyway, with that said, let me introduce to you the Firefly phone from at&t, previously cingular. I purchased the Firefly phone for my son because I liked the overall idea of it. He could only make and receive calls from numbers that I programmed into the phone myself. (You could program the phone online, too.) There were only 5 keys on this phone, 6 if you include the emergency 911 button on the side. He could not dial random numbers, or any numbers for that matter. I thought it was great. For a while. 
Well, there was no way that I was going to shell out over $100 for a new flip phone from at&t. So I decided to check out the at&t Go Phones they had at my local target. I found a relatively decent Samsung for about $40. It’s a basic phone, no frills at all, but it’s a flip phone and it’s not as babyish as the firefly. Since it was a Go Phone, I simply removed the sim card, or “smart card” as at&t calls them and replaced it with the card from my son’s old firefly phone. Worked like a charm. And let me tell you, this phone has held up against a rough 8 year old boy, getting dropped numerous times and even being washed. I couldn’t even leave the firefly in the car in the summer time, for some reason anytime it got a little hot it died. Anyway, being concerned about who calls my son and who he would be calling, I looked into parental controls for his phone. For about $5 per month, you can basically do the same thing that you could do with the firefly phone on any phone on your account. But even better, you can designate a time that the phone can and cannot be used. 911 always works of course. So, if you are looking for a decent cell phone at a moderate price for your kids, I really wouldn’t recommend the firefly at all. It’s just not made to hold up. 
